Daily News | 14 February

Google India on Thursday commemorated iconic actress Madhubala’s 86th birth anniversary with a ‘Google Doodle.’ Popularly known as The Venus of Indian Cinema and The Beauty with Tragedy, Madhubala was known for cinematic jewels like Mughal-e-Azam, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Mr and Mrs 55 and Mahal among many others. She was born on Valentine’s Day.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday got down to business, holding strategy sessions to script her party’s victory in the upcoming parliamentary polls.Immediately after reached the party office, she held talks with senior leaders and office bearers of Lucknow, Mohanlalganj, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar, Sitapur, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Bahraich, Phulpur and Ayodhya Lok Sabha constituencies to galvanise the party’s preparations.

A technical glitch in the micro-blogging platform Twitter, users across the world saw diminishing likes and retweets on their posts. It took political turn in India. Twitter cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey was summoned bby Indian Parliamentary Board where he failed to appear on 11 February.

The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was listed to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on February 13 amid protests in the northeast against the bill.But it set to lapse on June 3 as it was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha which adjourned sine die on Wednesday.

Ride-hailing giant Uber now boasts much higher driver app installations, potentially a big advantage in the long term. Besides, the firm has launched a slew of innovative products such as UberBOAT and UberAssist as it doubles down on technology and investments. But rival Ola is still miles ahead when it comes to penetration: it operates in 125 cities compared to Uber’s 36. That also gives the Indian unicorn a sizeable lead in terms of user app installs.

Food-tech unicorn Swiggy is diversifying into delivery of groceries and other daily essentials. Called Swiggy Stores, the new service is currently being piloted in Gurugram, for which the company has tied up with 3,500 local merchants such as Ferns N Petals, Licious and Apollo Pharmacy. Experts feel the concierge-like service may give tough competition to Google-funded Dunzo, though it’s unlikely to make a dent on the market share of BigBasket and Grofers.

An Indeed survey shows; While 53% employees would even consider taking a pay cut for the remote work facility, 48% said they would switch jobs if their current workplace did away with the policy. Little wonder, then, that an overwhelming 83% respondents felt ‘work from home’ was important to their job search. Employers seem to be on the same page – 99% of those surveyed said they had invested in technology to make remote working easier.